Return to Maine

A/N: First of all, I'd like to thank all of you for your kind words on the conclusion to "For The Love of Kate". I tried to respond to some of you personally, but the site wouldn't let me. I know there are still some issues that haven't been solved. Not sure if I was doing something wrong or if it's just another glitch in the system

This could be a sequel to "For The Love of Kate" or can be read as a stand alone. Not sure how long this will be, but I hope you will join me on this journey as Kate and Rick celebrate their 8 month anniversary of being a couple.

Two whole months! It had been a solid 2 months since she had seen Rick. Two incredibly, long, lonely months.. It seemed like forever since she had laid in his arms, felt his soft lips on hers, his hands on her body and she missed him so much!

True, they had been separated in the past for longer periods of time than this before, but this was the longest they had been separated since coming together, but it shouldn't be this hard.

When they had been stranded by a freak snowstorm in Maine in September and they had become a couple, they had decided to keep their relationship on the down low due to the department's rules about co workers dating. While they hadn't been perfect at hiding their relationship status, she thought they'd done pretty well with it. It has been 8 months and no one seemed to have a clue.

It was coming up on their 8 month anniversary and it looked every bit as if she would be spending it alone, hopefully he'd be home by Tuesday of next week and they could celebrate then and she could not wait!

For their 6 month anniversary, they had been stuck at the precinct under the watchful eyes of Ryan, Espo, and Gates working a high priority case that had taken them longer than normal to solve. At the end of the case, they had left the precinct separately to avoid drawing any attention their way. Rick had stopped at the bodega just down from her apartment since everything else had been closed at that hour and brought them sandwiches. After they had eaten, they staggered to her bed, fell into it for one quick round of lovemaking before he had to leave to be home before Alexis got up

She understood him going home to be with Alexis after being at the precinct for days. She loved Alexis and Castle and Alexis were a package deal and she understood that.

It was far from any anniversary celebration she had ever imagined. She didn't blame him. It's just the way it was in their crazy life. For years he had made concessions to follow her around and now she had to make her own concessions to fit her life around his. And it wasn't his fault that Black Pawn had sent him on this tour.

Two months ago, Black Pawn had sent him on a coast to coast book tour. He had kissed her goodbye, promising he would call every night once he got back to his hotel rooms and he had called every night… until last night and she missed him.

Normally, they would use Skype or Face Time while he was away and she had waited until 2 am for his call last night, but it had never come. Thinking that he may have had a late night for whatever reason, perhaps a late night dinner with Paula or Gina, which he had told her that at times, he had to have, but they were strictly professional. She trusted him. She really did, but trusting Gina was a whole different story.

Shaking herself out her reverie, she dismissed the thought of Gina and chided herself for being ridiculous. He was probably exhausted and slept through the night. He'd call later with a plausible excuse. She'd give him until tonight.

The next morning, she awoke with a start and slightly confused her brain still muddled with sleep., still clutching her phone to her chest. She vaguely remembered coming home from work last night, taking a nice hot bath and settling on her couch to watch tv and wait hopefully for Rick's call. The last thing she remembered seeing was the late edition of the news.

Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was 8:00 and she had to be at work at 9:00. There was no time to lose considering the amount of time it would take her to get across town. She quickly scrolled through her text messages and her call logs to see if she might have slept trough his call. No missed calls or texts. What the hell? Now, she didn't know if she was more worried or pissed. Now, she was both! Okay, she'd get to work, slip into the Conference Room and try calling him again. If she got no answer, she'd resort to calling Martha.

It was 10:00 am before she had the chance to slip into the Conference Room. As she expected, it went straight to voicemail.

"Hey, babe. It's me. I've been missing your calls and hope that you're okay. Getting kind of worried here, so call me and let me know that you're okay. Love you!"

By the end of the day there had still been no word from him. Now more worried than before and as much as she didn't want to, she was calling Martha as a last resort. She'd have to use caution when she talked to Martha, though. God Forbid, if Martha picked up on anything, she'd tell Alexis, Alexis would tell Lanie, Lanie would tell Espo, and he'd tell Ryan who would blow it all out of proportion, word would get back to Gates and then they wouldn't be able to work together anymore.

As soon as she hit her apartment door and toed her shoes off she headed to the liquor cabinet where Rick had a bottle of his favorite scotch stashed away.

Taking a glass from the cabinet, she poured herself a double and tossed it back, the liquor scorching it's way down her throat and into her stomach and she welcomed it. She debated on having another one, but ultimately decided against it. With little food on her stomach and absolutely no appetite it would hit her hard and the last thing she needed was to be drunk and have to talk to Martha.

Damn! She hated doing this, but best to get it over with now. She plucked her phone from her pocket and dialed Rick's home number and silently counted the number of rings before Martha answered.

"Kate, darling! What a wonderful surprise! It's so good to hear from you!"

"Thank you, Martha! It's great to talk to you, too. Uh, the reason I'm calling is to see if you've heard from Ri.. Ri.., uh Castle in the last couple of days?" Oh, Great! Now she was stuttering and falling all over her words. Just what she needed.

"Why, yes. He called last night. I didn't speak to him but a moment. Alexis talked to him longer than I did, but she did say that his tour may be delayed."

"Delayed? Did he say how long?"

"Well, he said that there had been a change in his itinerary, something about they had added more cities to his itinerary and he was going to be held up in until maybe as long as next Friday."

"Next Friday? Martha, did he sound okay to you?"

There was a pregnant pause on Martha's end before she answered, "Why, yes, dear. He sounded a bit irritated because of the change of plans, but he was fine. Kate, what is going on here?"

Oh shit! Now Martha was suspicious.

I wish I knew, Martha, she thought. "Oh, ummm, it"s nothing. We were just wondering when he'd be back, that's all."

"Oh, I see. Well darling, Alexis is at the library studying with some friends of hers at the moment, but I could have her call you back when she gets in if you'd like."

"Oh no. Thank you, Martha. That won't be necessary. The boys were just wondering, that's all. I'll be sure and relay the information to them. Thank you, Martha."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries with Martha, she had ended the call. And now, she was sick with worry and more perplexed than ever and she had no one to talk to about it. Damn it, Rick! Where the hell are you and what are you up to?

The next morning she was sitting at her desk with a splitting headache and her head buried in paperwork that Gates had been piling on them for the last two days. Her mind wandered back to Rick. It had nearly be nearly two and a half days with no word from him. What the hell was Rick up to, anyway? He had to know that she was worried sick about him. And why hasn't he returned her calls? Or was she just overreacting?

Across the bullpen, Espo had been studying Kate for the last two days and something was off with her, but what?

"Yo, bro. Have you noticed something wrong with Beckett lately?" he questioned Ryan.

Ryan lifted his eyes from the file he was reading to glance at his partner. "No, why?"

"The last couple of days she's just seemed off."

"Off? How so?"

"Well, she looks really tired, like she's exhausted or something. She's been really quiet. And have you noticed that she's not eating, either?"

"That's not entirely right, Javi. She ate a bagel I brought in day before yesterday."

"Have you seen her eat anything since then?"

"Well, now that you mention it, no."

"Remember a couple of years ago when Castle left for the Hamptons for the summer? Remember how she didn't eat much then and how quiet she was and we'd find her staring at Castle's chair?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So she's acting like that now and I've caught her staring at that damn chair several times since Castle left on this book tour. Now, I'm wondering if this is something we need to check into given everything she went through a few months ago. You know, see if she is okay."

Ryan laid his report to the side and swiveled his chair slightly so he could cast a sly look at Beckett, Damn of Javi wasn't right! She was sitting at her desk staring at Castle's empty chair.

" I'm telling you, bro. She's been doing that ever since Castle left and more so the last couple of days." Espo said when Ryan turned back to him. "You don't think something has happened between them that changed things and she's mooning over him again, do you?"

Ryan chuckled. "Come on, man. We've been with them everyday since Beckett came back to work. I think if something like that had happened, we'd have seen something, but we haven't."

Espo shook his head. "Not necessarily. You know how Beckett plays it close to the vest and we wouldn't see anything if she didn't want us to."

" Come on, Javi. Even if something has changed between them, that's their business, not ours."

"You mean you aren't the least little bit curios, bro?"

"No! And for the record, I don't think she's acting weird. She's just probably bored with all these files and I don't blame her."

Just then Beckett's cell phone rang and she jumped out of her chair so hard and so fast, the damn thing nearly turned over.

"Where the hell are you? I've been so worried!" she exclaimed into the phone, louder than she had intended'

"Now tell me that isn't weird." Espo stated.

"Yeah, that seems a bit weird. Is she seeing someone?"

"Beats the hell out of me. I haven't seen or heard of anyone, but I'd bet you three beers at The Old Haunt that it's Castle."

"I'll take that bet." Ryan said as he watched Beckett struggle to keep her chair righted.

Kate glanced up and noticed that Espo and Ryan had noticed her outburst. Oh shit!

"Hold on a minute." she said into the phone. "Excuse me guys, but I need to take this. Cover for me with Gates for a few minutes, will you?" she asked, her cheeks coloring pink before she spun on her heel and headed to the Conference Room.

"You got it, Beckett." Ryan replied and watched as she sauntered off. "So, what do we do now?" he asked Espo.

Both men watched as Beckett entered the Conference Room, closing the door behind her. Yeah. Something was definitely up.

"You know, Javi. You might be right. She has seemed off a bit this past month and just within the last couple of days. So what do we do now? Talk to her? Try to find out who she is seeing?"

Espo chuckled. "Hell no! Do you think she'd listen to us? Hell no, she wouldn't. She'd shoot us dead if she caught on that we're poking around in her personal life."

"So what do you think we should do?"

Their conversation came to a halt as Captain Gates came out of her office and started for the break room.

"We need to stage an intervention." Javi answered as soon as Captain Gates made it into the break room. "Follow me."

"Wait a minute. How does staging an Intervention help us in figuring out who Beckett is seeing?

"it doesn't, bro. But you see how she's been acting. This just gets her started on her weekend a little earlier. We have no open cases to solve, so why not get her sent home early. We put our plan of action into motion after work by staking out her apartment. Look bro. You don't have to say anything if you don't want, just follow my lead. Come on. I need you to watch for Beckett. It might look suspicious if she catches us in the break room with the captain."

"Got cha'. Let's get this over with."

Surprised, Victoria Gates looked up as she heard someone enter the break room behind her. Most of her detectives tried to avoid her.

"Gentlemen." she addressed over her shoulder as she stirred creamer and sweetener into her coffee.

"Sir, could we talk to you privately for a moment?" Esposito asked

This was highly unusual. Most of her detectives were suspicious of her some even resented her and didn't trust her. Iron Gates. She hated that nickname. Yes, she commanded respect from her officers and it was true that she was a by the books Captain, but that didn't mean that she was unapproachable, cold and heartless. If her officers only knew how much she cared…

"What can I do for you gentlemen?" she inquired.

"Well sir, we were wondering if you've noticed… that Beckett…" Espo trailed off, suddenly unsure if this was the right thing to do, after all.

"Beckett is ill this morning?" Ryan picked up when his partner floundered.

"Has she said anything about not feeling well?"

"No sir. She has not. It's just that we've noticed that she's been in and out of the bathroom this morning several times and she looks pale."

"You guys do realize that she has the three day holiday beginning tomorrow, right?" Did they really think that she was just that clueless?

"Yes, sir. We were just thinking that with no open cases right now, that you could send her home early?" Espo inquired.

"And keep this just between the three of us, maybe?" Ryan asked hopefully.

"And just why did you two seek me out for this?"

"Well sir, she will just say that everything is fine and won't listen to us, but if it comes from you..,"

"I see. Well gentlemen. Thank you for bringing this to my attention and I will consider this. But not because you asked me to. To be honest, I have noticed some things about her that seem odd. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my Compstats."

"That's all we ask. Thank you, sir."

After the captain left the room, they each made themselves a coffee and returned to their desks.